


Boy meets girl, Girl attacks boy, Girl attacks boy again,Girl keeps attacking boy....

by Nix_X



Series: Match Made in Heaven?- No. [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt Wanda Maximoff, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 03:08:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11819985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nix_X/pseuds/Nix_X
Summary: Tony Stark who has a set of issues to deal with ends up clashing with Wanda Maximoff who blames the Starks for her father's death. Tony is around twenty six, Wanda is about twenty oneThis is Part 1 of a two part series





	Boy meets girl, Girl attacks boy, Girl attacks boy again,Girl keeps attacking boy....

**Author's Note:**

> Popped into my head while watching Homecoming for some reason and wouldn't leave me until I typed it out. Wanda is crazy, Tony has issues, Pietro is a darling and that's pretty much it.

Tony gulped down his drink and glared at the scene in front of him. It was Friday night and the club was packed. Dancing couples grinded against each other, enterprising frat boys attempted to get laid by showing off their drinking skills and he felt…tired. Groaning, he demanded a refill.

“Tones, you need to slow down” Rhodey’s voice cut through the buzz in his head making him pause. Sometimes it felt like the only constant in his life was Rhodey- exasperated, annoying, overbearing Rhodey whose bullish manner imperfectly concealed his concern for Tony.

“It’s only my third Rhodey-poo” Tony drawled, drawing his glass up to his mouth only to have it snatched away by a glowering Rhodey.

“Third in ten minutes” he said furiously. “If you order one more drink in the next half hour Tones, I will drag you out of here and lock you in your room, so help me”

Tony whined. What was the point of getting out if you weren’t planning to get drunk as quickly as possible? Correctly interpreting Tony’s expression Rhodey’s mouth stretched into a thin line and he gave Tony a rough push.

“Get out there” he urged. “Find a girl and dance or do something stupid like you always do or even go ahead and sing fucking karaoke like that idiot over there. Just- stay away from the bar man”.

Tony contemplated all of his options and found that none of them felt even remotely appealing. He didn’t want to get out there, he didn’t want to chat up the group of gorgeous women standing eyeing him from their corner, he didn’t want to do …anything. Fuck.

“You know what- I think I’ll just go back home. Not really feeling it tonight Rhodey bear” .Tony tried for a smile as the worried look in Rhodey’s eyes deepened.  He knew exactly what Rhodey was thinking and the sick swooping sensation in his stomach wasn’t because he thought Rhodey was being a worry-wart, it was because he knew that Rhodey was exactly on point.

“Tones”. The shame he felt at hearing the tired note in Rhodey’s voice was surpassed by the urge to go home and feel the sweet sting of his Jack Daniels sliding down his throat.

“Oh hell” Rhodey’s exclamation had him frowning even as he stared longingly at the drink the bartender was handing to the guy next to him. “What is it?” he asked absently already charting his escape route. He needed to get back home dammit.

“It’s her”

For a moment Tony couldn’t breathe as ‘her’ conjured up the image of the one tall red head he could absolutely not bring himself to look at right now. The sight of a smaller brown haired woman heading towards them made him relax until he realized who it was.

“Damn, it’s the Maximoff girl”.

Rhodey nodded, stone-faced before pushing Tony towards the door. “Come on, let’s get out of here. We don’t want a scene”.

“You”.

They both froze .

Anton Maximoff had been a refugee from Sokovia who had toiled away for years in the state of New York before finally ending up as the proud owner and foreman of Maximoff Constructions. A year ago he had managed to bag the contract for renovating Stark Tower and by all accounts had done an excellent job of doing so until they had found his dead body, four months ago at the bottom of the Tower. Official investigation had concluded that death was most probably due to falling off the top of Stark tower but no one could provide any reason as to what he was doing there in the middle of the night. Post mortem had revealed no evidence of foul play.

A further investigation of his finances had revealed that he had been near bankrupt and the possibility of suicide had been considered. However due to the lack of evidence for that theory, it had been ruled as an Accidental Death and the case had been closed. The cooperation offered by the CEO of Stark Industries, Howard Stark and his CFO, Obadiah Stane had been highlighted in the official report and they had been praised as community role models when it came to engaging with law enforcement.

So far so good.

Unfortunately Anton Maximoff’s beloved younger daughter Wanda had refused to accept the verdict and had fixated on the owners of the building from which her father had fallen to his death as the real culprits. She had spent an entire week camped outside Stark tower, screaming at visitors and pelting the building with eggs until her brother had dragged her away bodily. She had given a half-crazed interview to the NY Post reiterating over and over that the Starks were responsible though she had no answer as to how or why .She had followed Howard around for two months, screaming insults and profanities at him until Howard had managed to get a restraining order against her. So far Tony had remained under the radar. He had a feeling that was about to change.

“You” she hissed again, her green eyes glowing with an almost fanatical light. Tony darted a glance at Rhodey. In mutual agreement they started inching towards the exit when she sprang.

Brown hair and flailing hands blocked Tony’s vision as he frantically tried to get the little devil off him. She was kicking, screaming, clawing and it was only the death grip Rhodey had around her waist that prevented her from actually hitting Tony. People were screaming in the background interspersed with some stray drunken cheers, Rhodey was yelling and cursing until Tony finally managed to get up from his position on the floor where she had pushed him. With an almighty shove he sent her hurtling into the crowd of people surrounding them and dragged Rhodey up.

“You okay?” he asked Rhodey, heaving for breath. Rhodey, who was similarly struggling with breathing, nodded although his eyes never left the Maximoff girl who was slowly getting up, clutching her head.

“I hurt head because of you, dirtbag” she spat at him in a thickly accented voice. Tony stared at her incredulously, aware that Rhodey was mimicking his expression.

“You attacked us!” he yelled. Five minutes ago he would have had some sympathy for her. Right now he didn’t give a fuck. He gingerly lifted a hand to his face where two deep scratch marks scored his cheek, narrowly missing his right eye. Rhodey was nursing a split lip from where the she-devil had kicked him.

“Murderer” she spat. Tony clenched his teeth but decided to let it go. All he wanted to do was to go home and get his hands on that bottle of whiskey.

“Come on “he said curtly to Rhodes and they turned to leave. Tony heaved a sigh of relief when they reached the exit until his eyes caught sight of her in the mirror, hung next to the stained, green door.

She was standing alone in a corner, holding onto the wall for support with one hand while the other was clutching her head. Her face was screwed up in pain and she kept opening and closing her eyes as if she couldn’t quite focus on what she was seeing. Tony closed his eyes in frustration.

“Wait” he muttered causing Rhodey to turn and give him an inquiring look.

“We need to get her to the hospital to get checked out” Tony mumbled trying to keep his temper under control as Rhodey gave him an expression of utter disbelief. Did Rhodey think he wanted to cart people who attacked him to the hospital?

“You are kidding right?”

Tony gritted his teeth. “Look, she could have really hurt her head. If we leave her here alone and something happens to her I’m going to be in deep shit” he said harshly. “Look at that lot. Do any of them look like good Samaritans to you?” He gestured to the crowd who had apparently forgotten the brief excitement of the fight and had gone back to what they were all doing before it.

“Just- please.The last thing I want now is a tabloid headline screaming’ Stark heir assaults woman and leaves her to fend for herself’ ”

Rhodey sighed but agreed reluctantly. “How are we going to get the crazy woman to come with us though?” he asked sourly.

Tony bit his lip

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

The kind old nurse finished swabbing at the tiny little cut and turned to face Tony with a cheerful smile. ”She is absolutely fine Mr Stark, a nasty little bump but no signs of anything serious. But I am afraid we will have to keep her in observation for some time, just to be sure”.

Tony forced a smile as the nurse turned and left while the patient in question glared balefully at both of them.

“Get Lost” she snapped.

Tony glared back. “Sweetheart there isn’t anything I want to do more. Regrettably for you and me I have to wait until your brother turns up so let’s just spend the time with you dreaming of ways to kill me while I pray that he isn’t as much of a nutjob as you are”.

Wanda clenched her fists, her glare intensifying. “I hate you” she hissed.

Tony decided to first pray for patience.

He leaned back in his plastic chair and closed his eyes trying to ignore the sting of disinfectant on his scratches. Some Friday night. He was exhausted, frustrated, and angry and all he wanted was that sensation of burning in his throat accompanying the delightful numbness that came with hundred ml of neat whisky.

He chanced a look around him. The ER was relatively empty. The only doctor that was present had his back turned to them. His hand made its way into his pocket where he had secreted a little flask unbeknownst to Rhodey. Only the madwoman in front of him would see and _she_ had managed to cultivate quite a reputation in the hospital already by spitting at the doctor when he had asked to draw blood.

Stealing the flask out of his back pocket he took a guilty gulp before quickly returning it to its previous position.

Her lip curled.

“You are drunkard” she pronounced in disgust, the thick accent dragging out the r’s. Vicious anger flared up inside Tony but he pushed it down, reminding himself that he wouldn’t be doing anyone a favour if he throttled her.

“And you are a crazy woman” he said in as light a tone as he could manage. “A woman who keeps blaming my family for something we didn’t do because she can’t accept reality”.

“You killed him!” she roared causing the doctor to turn and stare at her with a stern look in his eyes.

“Oh?” Tony bit out, “Then answer me this princess. How is it that we managed to kill your father despite two separate autopsies showing no evidence of external force? More importantly, why would we?”

She glared at him, chest heaving. “Money” she hissed.

Tony nearly laughed. “You think Howard Stark, twenty fifth on Fortune Magazine’s hundred richest individuals of the year killed a small time construction business owner for money?” There was crazy and then there was _insane._

“Money” she repeated stubbornly. “Your police said my father had no money. It is not true. My father loved us and was very careful with money. He saved money for college. Stark cheated my father and killed him”.

Tony said nothing. It was impossible to argue with someone like this.

His head was pounding fit to burst and he longed for another sip from his flask to chase the pain away when a commotion at the entrance to the ER diverted his attention. A pale, wiry boy about a couple of years younger than him dashed in, his face frantic with worry. Finally, Tony thought sourly. Although the boy had fair hair and blue eyes, the family resemblance was still strong enough for Tony to deduce that this was the long awaited brother.

“Pietro Maximoff?” he asked striding towards the guy and holding out his hand. The boy took it gingerly, the calluses on his palm telling Tony that this was no sheltered, pampered kid. The worn overalls and dusty jeans were in direct contrast to Tony’s own ripped designer jeans and Guns and Roses t-shirt. Howard would have liked this boy, Tony thought bitterly.

“Tony Stark” he said curtly. “I don’t know what Rhodey told you but while I admit that I am responsible for her injury, she attacked us first. I was simply trying to shield myself and my friend. These are her handiwork” He gestured to the scratches and nail marks around his throat along with the bruise on his other cheek. She had given him that when they had tried to take her to the hospital. He had gotten lucky. She had kneed Rhodey in the groin.

“Is she okay?” Maximoff-Pietro asked desperately. Tony was almost unwillingly moved by the raw fear in the boy’s voice .He nodded.

“It’s just a bump on her head with a small cut. Cut’s already stopped bleeding and they haven’t found anything else to be abnormal. Scan’s normal too”.

Pietro closed his eyes and let his head fall back in relief. Tony stared at him for a moment before deciding to take the plunge. Guy looked sane after all.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on in your sister’s head but you need to get her to act normal. I am willing to let this go but if my father hears of today’s incident, he could end up pressing charges and there is nothing I could do to stop him. I’m not sure I would even want to”.

The boy tensed but nodded. “I am sorry” he said stiffly. “For-everything. Wanda hasn’t reacted well to our father’s passing”

“She is crazy” Tony said bluntly.

A flash of anger leapt into the boy’s blue eyes. “This won’t happen again” he said curtly. “She is not dealing…well and I can’t afford to get her professional help at present but I promise you I will keep a better watch on her. You don’t have to worry. And-thank you. For not pressing charges”.

Tony was silent. Their father had been bankrupt when he died, he remembered. So the Maximoff twins had in addition to losing their father also found themselves virtually penniless. No wonder the girl was screwed up.

“You don’t need to worry about the hospital bills” he said gruffly. “I cleared them. I did push her after all”.

An embarrassed flush appeared on the boy’s cheeks and he muttered another stiff thank you before walking over to his sister who was staring daggers at Tony. Figuring that it would be tempting fate if he stayed any longer Tony made his way out of the ER to join a sullen Rhodey. Hopefully this was the last he would see of Wanda Maximoff.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

As soon as the key turned in the lock Tony made a beeline to his couch and dragged the cushions off it to finally uncover his prize. Clutching the bottle close to him he walked towards the kitchen to get himself a glass and some ice.

Rhodey would be furious if he knew what Tony was doing right now. The jabs about Tony’s drinking had been coming more frequently for the last few months and for good reason. But then Rhodey didn’t understand. No one did. They didn’t understand what it was to feel like this- so numb, so empty……to feel nothing night after night, day after day. He spent most of his time wandering about in this- monotone and the rest of the time he felt angry, frustrated and just so damn irritated with everything that alcohol was the only way to dull those feelings.

So he drank to feel something and he drank to avoid feeling too much. Tony’s lips twisted into a bitter smile. Wanda Maximoff had been right when she had called him a ‘drunkard’. Hell, he wasn’t even interested in getting laid anymore.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know what this was going to do him. Sure he could work now, he could go to classes, he could maintain some semblance of a social life, he didn’t _need_ it yet, but years of watching Howard make the same excuses had taught him exactly where this was going. It’s just… he couldn’t let go of it just yet. He wasn’t ready to deal with his life without it. He swallowed. It was like he was in a speeding car headed to a cliff and yet he couldn’t bring himself to jump out of it.

Christ he was just as bad as that Maximoff girl, Tony thought with a strangled laugh. If he was being honest with himself, that fight with her had been the first thing in months to make him feel remotely alive apart from his work. Sure she had driven him nearly insane and ended up making him use his emergency rations but he had felt… something. Some sort of interest in another human being. Not romantic, not sexual, just-interested in her and her brother and their story.

A sudden thought occurred to him and he put his untouched glass down on the kitchen counter before whipping his phone out. His first instinct was to call Happy but _that_ clearly wasn’t going to work out. Ignoring the lump in his throat Tony decided on the second best option.

“Hello?”

Tony smiled. It was good to hear her voice again.

“Hey”

“Tony!” The sleepy drawl disappeared from Riri Williams’s voice and was replaced with her characteristic exuberance. “What the hell are you doing waking people up in the middle of the night?” she demanded affectionately.

“It’s Friday night Ri” Tony groaned. “You shouldn’t be sleeping”.

“Excuse me it’s Saturday morning” Riri huffed. “And not all of us have an exciting social life Tony. Some of us like to sit at home with a book”.

Tony grinned. If Riri knew what he had been doing the past few hours, he would never hear the end of it.

“I need a favour” he said. He could practically hear Riri rolling her eyes. ”Of course you do” she replied. “You wouldn’t be calling me otherwise”.

“Yeah yeah, let’s save the sob stuff for later. I need you track a payment for me”

“As an accountant working for Stark Industries that is highly unethical and I would like to say for the record that I refuse. Which account?”

“Do you remember a man named Anton Maximoff? Died six months ago?”  Tony rubbed his nose knowing that he was asking Riri to stick her head out for him here. If Howard found out, she would be kicked out of the company before you could say Stark.

“Guy who fell from the top of Stark tower?” Her voice had sharpened. “Of course I remember. It was a pretty big deal at the time”.

“Here’s what’s puzzling me about him. The cops say that his financial records indicate that he was nearly bankrupt at the time of his death. But if my memory serves me right Stark Industries should have given him his final payment about two weeks before he died. And our project was a fairly big one for a small time contractor. Obie was saying something about the total amount coming up to 25 million dollars.”

“Yes but most of that would have gone to cover the costs- suppliers, workers, sub-contractors…”

“I know that” Tony replied, trying to keep the impatience out of his voice. “He still stood to make a decent profit and I find it hard to believe that he could have lost all that money in two weeks. From what someone- told me, he doesn’t seem to have been the type that throws money away”

Riri was quiet for a few moments. “What do you want me to do?” she asked finally.

“Track down the transaction and make sure that we did pay the man” Tony said. “I know that the cops would have mentioned it if we hadn’t but I just want you to make sure of it”.

Riri sighed. “Fine” she grumbled. “But you better tell me what this is all about the next time we meet. And treat me to a hotdog. I am not risking my job for nothing”.

Tony laughed and promised before ending the call leaving Riri to her beloved slumber. His mind was buzzing, half formed suspicions coming to the forefront only to be beaten back by logic. Ridiculous. The Maximoff girl was crazy, that’s all there was to this.

He cast a longing look at his waiting glass. He could have that and work on his latest project that would gather dust until Howard would retire or leave R&D to him.

Or he could do a little digging. With a sigh he emptied his glass in the sink and opened his laptop. He needed a clear head for what he was about to do.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

 

Tony hefted his backpack and made for the first coffee shop he could find, barely avoiding pedestrians as he scrolled through his notes. Class had been fairly gruelling today, even for him and he was a genius. It was no wonder that the guy who sat next to him had stumbled out looking more like a zombie than an actual human person.

Sniffing his way to a tiny little place with the sign ‘Annette’s coffee’ hanging from it, Tony pushed open the painted white door to breathe in the sweet scent of ground Arabica beans with delight. Bliss.

Grabbing his order with barely restrained impatience Tony made his way to a corner table only for some asshole to plough into him at the last moment nearly spilling his coffee and managing to stain Tony’s t-shirt with…whatever he was drinking.

“Hey!” Tony exclaimed, safely manoeuvring himself around the puddle of goop on the floor to deposit his thankfully unharmed Starkpad and coffee on the table. The guy who had banged into him was a huge fellow, built like a WWE wrestler complete with the long golden hair and muscled arms.

“Apologies brother” he said contritely before being dragged away by a slimmer black haired guy leaving Tony blinking. That was- weird.

“Oh dear”. The woman at the counter who he presumed was Annette clucked her tongue and smiled kindly at him. “Don’t worry about the mess now, we will clean it up soon enough. Wanda!”

Tony froze. No, no, no, he could not deal with the rage monster today. He was tired, he had work to do- he could not, absolutely not,deal with this today.

She came out from inside the back room wiping her hands on her overalls. Yup this was definitely going to go downhill. Her hair was piled on top of her head and there was a smudge of flour on her right cheek.

“Do be a dear now and clean up the mess next to that young gentleman’s table”

She looked up following the direction of the old lady’s finger while Tony tried to make himself as small as possible. Unfortunately that didn’t prevent her eyes from landing on him.

They widened. Tony mentally cudgelled himself for coming to this shop of all shops instead of going to the inviting looking Starbucks opposite this place-that-employed-Wanda-Maximoff.

Grabbing a mop and a bucket in much the same way Arya Stark grabbed swords she made her way over to him, her green eyes glinting.

“Mr Stark” she said with relish. Tony said nothing. Why put your head in the lion’s mouth when the lion is practically waiting to drag it there herself.

He had almost forgotten what he had dug up on her and her brother. A little research into the lives of the Maximoffs had yielded the information that at the time of their father’s deaths the two had been looking down at a set of bright futures- Pietro had been heading to SUNY, Buffalo with a soccer scholarship and Wanda had been accepted into Juilliard.

Furtively glancing at Wanda who was energetically swabbing the floor-almost too energetically- Tony felt a pang of…something. It wasn’t his fault but the idea that Pietro Maximoff was now working three jobs while his musical prodigy of a sister was waitressing tables somehow disturbed him.

“How is the head?” he asked tentatively. She made a noise like a cat spitting and Tony obediently shut his mouth, going back to his notes. He had tried.

“How is the coffee?” she suddenly asked, sweetly. Too sweetly. Wondering whether she had somehow managed to poison it Tony nodded cautiously. “It’s good” he said, still waiting for the sucker punch.

It wasn’t long in coming. “Ah? I am glad” she said. “I wondered. It is no alcohol after all and I have heard you only drink that now”.

Tony stared at her for a full minute, the unexpected hurt and rage nearly overwhelming him before slapping down a twenty dollar bill and pushing his way past her. Once he was finally out of the damned place, he slumped against the brick wall of the adjoining shop and concentrated on his breathing to help calm himself down.

Home. He needed to get home. He needed to get home and pour down a quarter bottle of whisky down his throat before continuing with his calculations for the arc reactor project.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

 

Tony walked briskly down the street, trying to keep himself warm. Today was one of those days. One of those days when he felt so damn tired all the time. He contemplated eating something but his stomach protested. He had spent nearly seven hours in the fucking library trying to build up some sort of interest in dynamical systems until he had finally given up and left. He swallowed and tried to ignore the part of his brain which was informing him that starting to lose interest in his work was a very bad sign.

It was just one of those days, he reassured himself. It was fine.

A slim figure appeared by his side and he cursed the universe, karma and every deity he could think of. The Queen Bitch had arrived.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, disdain and contempt dripping from her voice.

“I study here” Tony replied, forcing his voice to remain calm. “I am doing my Masters in Applied Mathematics and Physics. It’s ten at night and I’m going home from the library. What are you doing here?”

“I live here in Brooklyn” she said curtly.

“Yes but shouldn’t work have gotten over some time ago? “

“What are you, my mama?!” she demanded furiously swinging to face him, her hair nearly hitting his face.

“Nope” he said levelly. “I’ll leave you to it”

They walked in silence for some time. “You are also engineer, yes?” she demanded abruptly.

“Will you answer my question if I answer yours?”

Her eyes could have bored holes in him. With obvious reluctance she nodded.

“Yes- electrical. I have a bachelors and masters from MIT. Where are you coming from?”

She paused. He kept walking. “Kimmel Center” she finally mumbled.

It was his turn to still. “What were you doing there?”

“I know a Professor in Music Department. She lets me practice after hours but I cannot tell people or she will lose her job”

Tony said nothing. He had known of course that the girl must be talented to have been accepted by Juilliard but her dedication was a nice surprise. Or perhaps this was an escape for her, he thought ruefully. Escape from reality.

“You know” he began awkwardly “I know people. Or rather I know people who know people who would be willing to pull a few strings to get you a scholarship. I mean I’m no one right now but they know I’ll take over Stark industries some day and be in a position to donate generously-“

“You think I want your money?!” She whirled around, eyes shooting fire, face as red as a volcano.

He took a deep breath. “I was just trying to help” he said coolly. She bared her teeth and hissed.

“I hate you, murderer” she whispered.

He met her eyes squarely for a minute before striding away leaving her to stare after him with angry tears in her eyes.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

 

Tony went over his calculations once again. This was becoming a pattern now. He would spend his evenings either drinking or working until he passed out from exhaustion or dead drunk. Rhodey’s calls were becoming more and more frantic, the last one nearly begging Tony to join him and a group of their friends on a trip somewhere but Tony hadn’t budged. He just wasn’t interested anymore.

The phone rang then, distracting him. Frowning, he answered the call hoping that it wasn’t Rhodey again.

“Tony” Riri’s familiar voice sounded in his ears. He relaxed.

“I tracked down that wire transfer made from Stark Industries account to Anton Maximoff’s account. Fifteen million dollars. Ten days before the guy died. It’s all perfectly in order.”

Tony felt a weight that he didn’t know he had been carrying, vanish. So that was that.

“I am investigating the Anton guy’s finances now. I know you didn’t ask me to but we might as well set all doubts to rest so that I’ll really have earned my hot dog”.

Tony chuckled. Thanking Riri he ended the call. He had just one more thing to do now.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

“I really appreciate you meeting me, Officer T’Challa” Tony said with his most charming smile. Rhodey had dubbed it ‘The smile that caused knickers to disappear’. Tony hoped it would prove useful in other departments as well.

T’Challa regarded him thoughtfully. He was a tall, handsome man, some years older than Tony who exuded a charisma born of maturity and intelligence.

“My pleasure Mr Stark. I understand this has something to do with Mr Maximoff’s death?”

Tony hesitated for a second before diving in.” This is probably going to sound crazy Officer”

T’Challa’s polite expression never varied.

“Was it…allright?” Tony blurted out and winced at his choice of words. Smooth.

“Allright?”

“Yes as in, no foul play?” Tony cursed himself. Foul play? What was this – an episode of Law and Order?

“We could find no evidence of any during our investigation. Why do you ask Mr Stark?” T’Challa replied in a measured tone.

“No reason, I’m stupid, just wanted to make sure that’s all, sorry for wasting your time” Tony hurriedly stood up and made to leave. He was dumb for turning out on this wild goose chase because he felt sorry for a crazy person.

“Mr Stark”. T’Challa’s quiet voice halted him. “There is one thing that was odd”

A pit of dread grew in Tony’s stomach. Oh fuck, he was going to end up being one of those sons who would have to visit his father in prison once every month wasn’t he? That is if Howard would consent to grant an audience.

“Post mortem reports revealed no evidence of external force on Mr Maximoff’s body which means that it was most likely an accidental death or suicide. We even have CCTV footage, courtesy of your father’s company which reveals that only Mr Maximoff entered the roof that night, alone. No one else seems to have gone in before him or after him”

Tony relaxed. “That’s good news right?”

T’Challa nodded though there was the barest hint of a frown on his forehead. “For some reason however the CCTV cameras of the first two levels of the building and the exit and entry doors weren’t working that night”

Tony frowned. “Did you talk to Obie-Mr Stane about this? My dad’s CEO but Obie is the guy who takes care of all the regular stuff”

T’Challa smiled.  “Mr Stane was extremely helpful. Apparently the cameras were damaged during an unexpected power outage a month before and they hadn’t been working that entire month. The footage we took, backs that up because there does appear to be an entire month missing”.

Tony didn’t know what to say. “So everything’s fine then?” he asked diffidently. T’Challa nodded although the crease in his forehead didn’t go away. “It would appear so. No motive, no evidence of struggle, no evidence of drugs, strong evidence of victim entering the crime site alone, nothing except this easily explained anomaly”.

Tony let out a deep breath. Everything was fine. The only thing that was wrong was Wanda Maximoff’s head.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

Tony let out a shuddering breath. Another Friday night and another alcohol laced party. Rhodey had argued for pizza and movie night but Clint and Barnes had insisted on dragging them out to a party Clint’s friend Thor was throwing because it was quote-the party of the century-unquote. Rhodey had already been whisked away by a pretty blonde woman so here he was, fifteen minutes in, standing alone with a plastic cup full of cheap beer hating himself and everything and everyone around him. He hadn’t even met his host.

It was suffocating, he realised, blinking firmly. There was a tightness in his chest that was hurting his breathing. The room felt unusually hot and the smell of sweat and beer was for some reason driving him nuts. Air, he thought dazedly, he needed air.

He had just begun to make his way to the door when he was cornered by Clint and Barnes.

“Tonyy” Clint sang, draping a drunken arm over him. “What are you doing moping by yourself? Get out there, have fun, drink up”. He punctuated his remarks by draining his own cup.

Tony gave him a tight smile. “Not really feeling it tonight buddy, sorry”

“Oh come on!” Barnes howled. “You haven’t been feeling it for almost months now from what I can tell. Where’s our party animal Tony?!” Clint whooped in agreement.

Gulping, Tony drained the fucking cup and turned to his friends with a practiced grin, ignoring the pounding in his chest which was steadily speeding up. Breathe, he told himself sternly.

“There-done” .He tried for a laugh. “But I really have to go guys- there is a ton of work sitting at home and-“

“Tony?”

He didn’t move.

Pepper’s angelic face appeared in front of him, the blue eyes he had once likened to the sky in one of his drunken moments smiling at him.

“Hey” he said, nothing else coming to his mind. Clint poked him in the back. ”So how have you been?”

“Good” she said, smiling widely. ”It’s really good to see you again Tony, I haven’t seen you for such a long time”

You mean after you dumped me and informed me that you were sleeping with one of my best friends? Tony stretched out his lips in an approximation of a smile and prayed that Rhodey would turn up to rescue him.

“Pep! Help us out here. We are trying to get Tony to loosen up and have fun and this asshole wants to go home and brood” Barnes yelled.

“That’s not-I am not brooding. I just have a lot of work to get through” Tony said awkwardly and watched with a sinking feeling as the smile in Pepper’s eyes was replaced by a disappointed look. The same look she had given him when she had finally thrown in the towel.

“Work. Of course” she said in clipped accents. “We all know work takes precedence with Tony over everything else”

The rage that flared up in him replaced the dull, ache that he had been feeling ever since she had turned up. He wondered if it had ever occurred to her that work took precedence because it was the only thing that kept him marginally sane.

“So true. Where is Happy by the way, didn’t he come with you?”  He bit out knowing it was a low blow. He didn’t wait for her angry retort but nodded at Clint and Barnes and quickly made his way to the door. Unfortunately he couldn’t help but overhear Clint’s “What’s up with him?” and Pepper’s heated response to it.

Fuck them, he thought dully as he stepped out into the street and gratefully gulped down some fresh air.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

Fuck. He had forgotten that he had hitched a ride with Rhodey tonight. Rhodey who was almost certainly in the middle of a makeout session with that blonde woman, Carol he thought her name was. Figuring that it would be easier than waiting for an Uber, Tony started walking. It wasn’t that far to his place anyways and hopefully the night air would clear his head.

He rounded the corner only to end up nearly crashing into the one person he definitely didn’t want to see.

“You”

He sighed. He wasn’t in the mood for her dramatics. “Yes me” he said irritably. “You didn’t get that the last three times?”

“What are you doing?” she growled.

“What does it look like, Princess?” Tony suddenly wanted to scream at her. “I am walking, going home. I am not wandering about the streets at night like a lunatic- oh wait that’s you”

“I am going home too” she spat furiously. “I am going to take subway back home. What happened- Daddy didn’t send car for you?”

Don’t lose it, don’t lose it- Tony chanted over and over again, seconds away from throttling the brat.

“Subway at this time of the night to Brooklyn? Boy I should really warn all the unsuspecting muggers waiting to ambush you, they are going to get attacked by a wild animal tonight”.

She kicked him.

Yowling in pain, Tony hopped on one leg, holding the other tenderly, wishing with all his heart that he could just strangle her and leave her to rot. No one would know, he thought grumpily.

“I have a job unlike you Stark, I have to work nights sometime. We don’t all have trust funds”

Bitch, Tony thought sullenly although the truth of her words did sting him a little. “What is this job- snake charmer?” he asked.

“I am General Helper for bakery. I had to do stock inventory” she muttered.

Oh. He didn’t say anything and for some moments they walked in peace. Then she went ahead and ruined it.

“What are you doing here? Coming from meeting with Daddy on how to ruin lives?”

He gritted his teeth. “A party actually. You know the thing you attend when you have friends and you are a normal person, but you wouldn’t know about that would you?”

He barely managed to avoid the second kick. Christ, she was the definition of a feral animal.

“Why did you leave then? They threw you out?”

“No” he grunted.

“Why then?”

“None of your business”

“Why?”

“Shut Up”

“Why?”

“Oh for fucks sake I ran into my ex-girlfriend okay?! Will you shut up now?”

She gave him a wide malicious smile. “Why did she leave you?”

Tony said nothing and quickened his pace. She started running to keep up with him. “Is it because you are a drunk?”

For the life of him Tony would never understand what possessed him in that moment. One moment he was walking and the next he had grabbed on to the front of her shirt and slammed her against the wall of the alley they were walking through.

“Listen to me Princess, I will say this once” he hissed, glaring into her wide green eyes which for the first time since they had met looked wary. “Keep away from me and quit the bitch-act or I will ruin your life _and_ your brother’s life”.

She glared back at him confirming his theory that she lacked any form of self-preservation instincts. Letting go of her with a disgusted sound Tony resumed his walk. Almost home now, he was only two blocks away.

He had barely made it ten paces when the sounds of an altercation reached his ears. Dreading what he was going to see, he turned around.

Wanda was backed up against the alley wall protectively holding her bag behind her while two shadows towered over her, one carrying what appeared to look like a knife. Yep-shady looking men, shiv and demands for her bag which were being met with spitting and unintelligible cursing. The night was definitely a disaster, Tony thought morosely .He pulled out his phone and dialled Rhodey.

“Tony, where are you man-“

“Rhodey listen to me” Tony cut him off. “I am about to get beaten up and I need you to come and get me. Track my phone”

“What!”

Tony gritted his teeth as he took in the size of the men advancing onto Wanda menacingly. “Better call 911 too” he said dully before dropping the phone and taking off at a run to almost certainly get his head smashed in because some lunatic couldn’t be bothered to hand over her stupid bag.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

Tony slowly opened his eyes to meet Rhodey’s worried ones. The beeping of the machines alerted him to the fact that he was in a hospital room and he slowly groaned as memory returned to him.

“How bad is it?” he demanded as Rhodey said nothing but handed him a glass of water.

“Could have been worse” Rhodey said stiffly. “As it is, you were just knocked out. We got there before anything worse could happen”.

“What about her?” Tony asked grudgingly. He was almost certain she was unharmed, mostly because he had been the one taking all the blows but there was always the possibility that she had grabbed the knife and stabbed herself.

Rhodey’s lips thinned making Tony suddenly go cold.

“She is all right isn’t she?” he demanded urgently.

“Oh yes” Rhodey gave a furious laugh. “Not only is that little monster alive and well she also gave a statement to the cops saying that you joined those two assholes in attacking her”.

“WHAT?!”

Rhodey winced as Tony’s roar echoed in the small hospital room. “Calm down” he muttered with no real hope. Tony stared at him incredulously.

“Calm down? I risk my life for that bitch only for her to stab me in the back and you are telling me to calm down? Rhodey, let me get off this bed right now because I need to track her down and _murder_ her! It would be a pity to make her into a liar after all”

Rhodey sighed wearily. “The cops aren’t idiots Tony. They know what’s what. They have taken a break from questioning her and sent her brother in now to talk some sense into her. If that doesn’t work, well – it will never stand up in court”

Tony gnashed his teeth. No more. No more feeling sorry for people, no more forced mingling, no more heroic efforts from him. He was locking himself up with his work and he was going to live his life any damned way he liked. Fuck the world, fuck humanity.

The phone rang then and he picked it up with no real interest. “Hey Riri” he said dully.

“Tony! Oh my god are you okay? Some tabloids are reporting that you are in the hospital after stopping a mugging. Is that true?”

Wow. Howard’s PR department sure worked fast, Tony thought, seething. Howard couldn’t possibly be bothered to come down and check on him of course, but he had no problem capitalizing on his own son.

“I’m fine, Riri” he said, suddenly aware that he was feeling drop dead tired. He wanted a drink.

“Thank the Seven!” Riri replied fervently making Tony smile. He still had some awesome friends he thought, glancing at a stone faced Rhodey.

“Oh and Tony, I have been digging into that Anton guy’s finances and there is something that’s odd”

“Nope” Tony cut her off immediately. “We are done with that business Ri. I should never have asked you to look into it in the first place. You can stop now” he said, blinking to keep his eyes open.

“But Tony-“

“Nope” he said again, ending the call. He was done with the Maximoffs and their shit.

He looked up to find Rhodey watching him with approval and gave him a weak smile in return.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

 

“Wanda this is nonsense” Pietro exclaimed. “You can’t keep throwing around wild accusations like this”.

“Stark needs to go to jail” His sister repeated stubbornly.

“Wanda!” Pietro yelled, nearly tearing out his hair in frustration. He was so sick of this. He tried again, keeping his voice as calm as possible. Steve, his buddy from the construction crew he worked on had told him to humour Wanda as much as possible.

“Wanda, do you realise that if Stark hadn’t been there you could have been badly hurt?”

“Stark needs to go to jail”

Pietro stared at his sister in silent frustration. She had always been like this. Where he had adapted to changing environments she had clung stubbornly onto her beliefs and made things worse for herself. He tried another approach.

“The cops will never believe you. I don’t believe you. A child of five could make out what had happened. Why are you doing this?”

“Stark needs to go to jail”

Pietro took a deep breath. Fuck humouring her. He had no idea what a professional therapist would advise him to do but he was going to tell her some hard truths today.

“Wanda, dad’s death was accidental. You have to accept that” he said, ruthlessly pushing away the pain he felt whenever he thought about his dead father.

She glowered at him but said nothing.

“The Starks had nothing to do with it. I have been over this with the officer in charge, the people who worked with dad and everyone I could think of and there is NO evidence that it was anything but that!” He nearly screamed in frustration.

Her lower lip trembled. “He fell from Stark Tower” she declared, pushing her chin up.

“So what?!” he roared, the last thread holding him together snapping loose. He was done with this.

“So what! If a tree falls on our apartment tomorrow are you going to prosecute everyone who plants trees? If I died in a car accident tomorrow, are you going to sue everyone who owns or works in a company which manufactures cars? If a hurricane wipes out NYC tomorrow are you going to sue God?”

She flinched but didn’t reply. Tears were rolling down her cheeks causing Pietro to avert his eyes. He could never bear to see her cry even when they had been kids. His father hadn’t been able to either.

“Wanda, I work three jobs just so that I can save up enough money to send you to college. I know you work hard too but all of this- we can’t afford to deal with all of this” he said wearily, flopping onto the chair beside her.

“You need to let this go” he repeated.

Very slowly, she nodded.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

 

Tony frowned at what he had written. The math didn’t add up. Taking an absent minded sip of his vodka he tried again, only to blink as his vision blurred. Great, the alcohol had started to mess with his brain already. He had thought that he had better tolerance.

He fell back on his couch and closed his eyes. The last two weeks had been fairly normal with no unwanted Maximoff appearances. His life had settled back into that dull, predictable monotone of classes and work, classes and work which meant that he had been drinking slightly more heavily than usual. Recently-he swallowed. Recently he had found himself reaching for a glass in the morning to fortify himself for the day.

Howard, he thought bitterly. He was turning into Howard. Unfortunately he wasn’t ready to call it quits yet. One more day, he promised himself. Just one more day.

For some reason, Wanda Maximoff’s furious green eyes popped into his head. She had been certifiably insane but for the short time he had known her she had given him some sort of a…purpose. Her taunts had inspired him to stay off alcohol for the sheer pleasure of spiting her and investigating her father’s death had given him the feeling that he was doing something. Something useful.

But she was gone and he was now back to frying his liver.

His Starkphone buzzed again, insistently. He sighed. Riri. She had left him about twenty voice mails by now, none of which he had checked. He should never have put her on to this damned business in the first place.

The buzzing becoming too annoying to ignore, he finally answered with a growl.

“Tony! Do Not Hang Up” she instructed him sternly. He stilled. Her voice sounded troubled. Riri was never troubled. This was then way worse than he had suspected.He listened to the torrent of information Riri poured into his ears, the sick feeling growing as he processed what he was hearing.

After Riri had finally hung up, Tony gulped down the entire contents of his glass and buried his head in his hands. He knew what he had to do now, he just didn’t want to do it. He stared at his phone, turning it over in his hands. He really, really didn’t want to do this.

He closed his eyes and found himself staring into two glowering green eyes. Fuck.

Picking up the phone Tony called the one number he had sworn to himself he would never call.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

 

“I’m really grateful to you for agreeing to meet me like this Obie” Tony said slowly. “I know it’s late but this couldn’t wait. I hope you understand”.

“Of course my dear boy” Obie replied genially, pouring Tony a glass of whisky and placing it in front of him. “You still drink it neat don’t you?”

Tony glared at the glass and wanted to vomit. He picked it up however and swallowed a mouthful. He needed some liquid courage for what he was about to do. They were sitting in one of the boardrooms on the ground floor of Stark tower and since it was around ten at night, he and Obie were the only two people in the building, apart from the security guards.

“Now” Obie said, seating himself on the opposite end of the table. “What is all this about”. He grinned at Tony.

“I have been digging into the Anton Maximoff case” Tony announced in one breath. Better to get it all out there as soon as possible. Obie tensed and his gaze sharpened. “Oh?” he asked coolly.

“Yeah” Tony said. “There is something odd about it Obie. When he died his bank accounts were found to be nearly empty. Which is weird because by all accounts we should have paid him a lot of money about two weeks prior to his death”

Obie shrugged. ”I’m sure we did, Tony. You know your dad’s very strict about that sort of thing. This Maximoff guy must have been a gambler or something. Or maybe he was involved with the wrong crowd. The mob can be ruthless, if you know what I mean”

“We did pay him” Tony took another deep breath and went on. “I had someone track down that payment”

“Well then?”

“Odd thing is Obie, two days later the money was transferred out of his account and into an offshore account “

Obie shrugged again. “Yes I did get to know that from my- well let’s say contacts in the force. They tried to track the account down but we don’t have a treaty with the country in question so that was stalled. The official working theory would have been that he was going to cheat his creditors and abscond with the money but-“

“But he is dead” Tony finished for him. “Pretty much the only reason you got found out, Obie”

Obie stared at him with narrowed eyes and twirled his glass. “I am not sure I follow my dear boy” he said, still smiling.

Tony leaned forward. “You have been stealing from Stark industries for years. Don’t bother denying it .My source managed to find several anomalies in the accounts. You have been siphoning off a little here and a little there because Howard is too busy with R&D and lobbying to check the damned accounts.

Unfortunately for you, you skimmed off the budget allocated for a major project Howard suddenly developed an interest in. You found out that he was going to go through the project himself and panicked before looking around to find some money to replace what you had stolen. Most of your money was tied up in real estate abroad and stocks. That’s when you saw that a contractor was about to get majorly paid for his work.”

Tony paused.

“He was a nice guy, an honest guy and he believed whatever bullshit you spun him. I don’t know what you told him but he was persuaded to return his payment with the assurance that he would be paid after a few days. Only, he would have to transfer it to a different account, an account you told him to transfer it to and voila your slate was clean again and you remained Howard’s trusted friend”

There was silence.

“My friend, who is very good at hacking into financial institutions, tracked down the transaction. The money was transferred back to one of your personal bank accounts from the offshore account, almost immediately” Tony said quietly.

Obie shifted. “As far as I can see Tony, the only proof you have to back up this ridiculous story is an anonymous source who happens to be an illegal hacker and that isn’t much help is it?” he said gently.

Tony ignored him. “Did you kill him?” he asked.

Obie’s eyes focused on his black, Italian leather shoes and he murmured reminiscently “Oh no. I had nothing to do with that”

“Then what did you do?” Tony demanded. Obie smiled. ”I have no objection to telling you Tony but I would like you to turn out your pockets and place your phone and everything else on the table here. You are a smart boy Tony and I wouldn’t put it past you to try and…let us say- push me into making an unwise statement.”

Tony wordlessly turned his pockets out and placed his Starkphone on the table. “Mind if I check?” Obie asked lifting an eyebrow. In reply Tony stretched his arms out and tried not to shudder as Obie patted him down.

“Good boy” he said approvingly before going back to his seat. Taking a sip of his drink, Obie leaned back in his chair and once more studied the gleaming surfaces of his hundred dollar shoes.

“He came to see me” he said. “Demanded his money. Said he had borrowed money to carry out this project, not to mention all the people he had to pay for their work. He threatened to go to the police or your father if I didn’t pay him immediately”

“And?” Tony asked sick to his stomach.

“Well I told him that I had no idea what he was talking about. Stark industries had transferred the money to him. There was a clear record of that. What he did with the money once it came into his possession was none of my business. And if he did persist in his ridiculous allegations, then I would be forced to ask my lawyers to defend me. As you know Tony, we have a very good legal group”. He grinned.

Tony bit his lip. He did know.

“I might have also suggested that he reconsider his stance. After all bad things happen to bad people. From what I heard he had two wonderful kids and it would be a shame if something happened to them”

Tony tasted blood on his lips. “But you didn’t kill him?” he asked sarcastically.

Obie gave another small smile. ”Believe it or not Tony, I didn’t. I am not saying it didn’t cross my mind but I didn’t. I left him there, shaking like a leaf and I left the building. We have proof of that because this is Stark Industries Tony, and everything is always being observed by someone. I assure you, he went up there all on his own.

The only thing I am guilty of perhaps is wiping the CCTV footage and bribing two guys in the security department to cover that up. I didn’t want anyone to know that I was the last person to see the moron alive, you see”. He smiled sweetly.

Tony stared at him, trembling with anger. “You were right about one thing Obie” he said slowly. “Bad things happen to bad people”

Obie stared at him, for the first time appearing disturbed as he too heard what Tony’s younger ears had caught first. Sirens.

“You clearly aren’t as smart as advertised Tony” he said, his eyes narrowed. “You need proof and from what I can see you don’t have any.”

Tony waved at the surveillance cameras and at the flower pot he knew concealed a microphone. “This is Stark Industries Obie and everything is always observed”

“They need a warrant to access our security tapes you idiot” Obie spat. “They can’t get a warrant without grounds and they don’t have grounds. Even if your anonymous source somehow managed to send them a copy, illegally obtained evidence isn’t admissible in court. You should have paid more attention when Howard was trying to groom you into the next CEO, Tony. All that’s going to happen now is that a group of police officers get a nice tour of Stark Tower and leave after sampling our expensive coffee with an apology from you for wasting their time”.

“They don’t have access” Tony said quietly. “But the last time I checked the CEO of Stark industries definitely has access to review the security footage anytime he wants to, even if it is in the middle of the night. And if he finds out that his partner and CFO has been embezzling from the firm then he has every right to call the cops”.

Obie fell back into the chair as Tony stood up, eyes stinging. Howard had, for the first time in his life, come through. He turned to leave and was halfway out of the door when something came crashing down on his head, pushing him into darkness.

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

 

Tony opened his eyes to the sound of monitors beeping and swore. “This is getting to be a regular thing” he grumbled.

“I agree” Rhodey smirked. “The hospital is thinking of naming this room after you”.

“What happened?” Tony asked through cracked lips. His head felt strangely heavy and he lifted a hand to search for the reason. “Ah-ah” Rhodey knocked the hand away. “Twelve stitches. It basically looks like you are wearing a turban”

“Twelve?” Tony asked dully. “What did he hit me with, a fucking chair?”

“A bottle of Jameson Irish Whisky. Apparently he went momentarily crazy” Rhodey said dryly.

Tony laughed. A bottle of whisky. This was some poetic shit.

“Has my dear father been to see me?” Tony asked abruptly. “Or is he too busy scrambling to stop the stock prices from falling?”

Rhodey gave him a look. That was all the answer he needed.

“Still, he atleast showed up when I needed him to” Tony mused “I am not sure how much of that stemmed from his love of the company vis a vis his love of me but he still showed up”. Rhodey said nothing but gave Tony a smile.

“I am drinking too much” Tony announced suddenly making Rhodey glare at him. “I know” Rhodey sighed.

“It’s just-“Tony swallowed and forced himself to talk around the lump in his throat. He needed to say this today or he would never end up saying it. “Ever since she died I am not- I am not okay Rhodey-bear”

“I know” Rhodey murmured again, his face grim. He had been there when Tony had been taken to see his mother’s dead body in the morgue, a year ago.

Tony gave a hysterical laugh. “It’s not so much that she died, its more _how_ she died actually. At first I tried to cope by – well you know all the stupid shit I pulled”.

Rhodey nodded.

“It didn’t work. None of it. And now I just feel…detached. I observe things instead of feeling them and I am almost always tired and if I am not tired then I am angry about something or frustrated and I drink so that I can just be left alone in peace. That’s it. I drink because it – it helps me to just be me. To avoid everything. All I want now is to be left alone in peace.” His voice trailed off into a whisper.

Rhodey said nothing.

“I need help” Tony let out a small forced chuckle. “I am not _there_ yet, I don’t _need_ to drink but I will end up there if I don’t get help now. One of the few lessons I learnt from dear old dad although I don’t think he meant to teach me that.” He paused.” I am not in the pit yet but I am falling Rhodey and it scares the shit out of me”.

Rhodey leaned forward and gently readjusted Tony’s blanket. “Shut up. We are going to get you through this because you are Tony Stark and you can do whatever the fuck you want to do when you set your mind on something”

Tony gave another watery laugh. “Got that off the internet?”

Rhodey grinned back. “You bet”

There was silence.

“I don’t want to end up like him, Rhodey” Tony finally said quietly.

“You won’t”

 

 

******************************************************************

 

 

 

Wanda stared at Pietro , stunned.

“Stane?”

Pietro who looked like he had been hit by a truck leaned back against the door of their tiny little studio and nodded wearily.

“Did he-“

“No death is still presumed to be an accident. Stane only stole the money”

She was silent. It had to be an accident because the alternative was too horrible to contemplate.

“It wasn’t”

She looked up startled to find her twin looking at her, the look in his eyes telling her that he knew exactly what she had been thinking.

“How do you know?” she asked, her voice trembling.

He met her eyes flatly. “Do you remember how we left Sokovia? The refugee camps, the journey?”

She nodded. She had only been eight then but she remembered every detail of that nightmare.

“Well we are here because Dad didn’t lose hope and dragged us on despite every roadblock, despite the people who said that it was impossible, despite the people who said that we needed to give up and die, despite every horrible thing that happened to us. If you are trying to tell me that that man jumped off a building because some douchebag with money threatened him, I am calling you an idiot”.

She smiled at him through her tears.

“Stark industries are offering us a settlement of three million dollars” Pietro said quietly after some time, nearly giving Wanda a heart attack.

“So much?” she blinked.

Pietro gave a rough laugh. “I am pretty sure Howard Stark is willing to pay any sum to hush this up. Either ways I took the offer to Steve’s friend Murdock who is a lawyer and he said it’s a good deal and we should take it”.

She smiled. “You can go to college”

“So can you. Stark Industries is offering you a Maria Stark scholarship to study music at NYU”

Wanda beamed.

“You know “ Pietro said in a too-casual tone, “Tony Stark is the one we should really be thanking. He is the guy who followed the money trail and unmasked Stane. Shall we visit him in the hospital with an apology and a fruit basket?”

She scowled.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I imagine Wanda's Sokovian accent to be Hungarian.That's how she spoke in my head anyway. And no, I am not crazy :P


End file.
